"Our Daily Bread"
Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts
Did you know you can now send an email to God? An Israeli internet company (www.virtual.co.il) has announced that they will take email prayers to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Customarily people write prayers and place them in cracks of the wall. I did so when I visited Israel some years ago. But we don’t need to email God-His lines of communication are always open to us-with or without an internet connection!
When we pray "Give us this day our daily bread" we’re showing that we’re depending on God a day at a time. Jesus urges us, "Don’t worry about having enough food or drink or clothing….Do not worry about tomorrow" (Mt 6:31, 34). Within our request is the faith-knowledge that God will provide. With confidence we make our needs known to God.
The first half of the Lord’s Prayer is directed to God-His paternity, His person, His program, His purpose. Now we move to our need for provision, pardon, protection, and preservation. The order is intentional-we honor God before raising personal needs. Jesus expresses this order when He says, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you" (Mt 6:33). We begin in prayer praising God, then we make our requests known-admitting we have needs which only God can fill.
Have you ever not known where your next meal was coming from? We usually have more than enough food for ourselves, so this request may seem remote. We can have any kind of food we wish. In our abundance we forget that God is the Source of our provision-that without God we would not prosper at all. He brings the sun and the rain, He causes the crops to grow; He gives us intelligence and ability to earn bread. When I pastored two African-American congregations I learned appreciation for the small miracles of life. I regularly heard prayers thanking God for getting us up in the morning, and getting us on our way. When was the last time we were thankful for such simple gifts? We shouldn’t take the ordinary blessings of life for granted.
One time I was participating in an Army field exercise and a soldier posed a question about our field rations (those "Meals-Ready-to-Eat"): "Chaplain, should MRE’s get ’grace’ or ’last rites’?" It’s important that we’re thankful for whatever God provides-even things we may not like. Do we offer thanks regularly for our food, even when we’re in public? I’m reminded of Norman Rockwell’s famous painting of a Mother and son praying over their meal at a table shared with two young men. When we thank God before a meal we’re acknowledging that He has provided for our needs. We’re not indifferent. Scripture says that our food is "sanctified", set apart when it is received with thanksgiving (I Tim 4:4-5).
The Apostle Paul tells us, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31). How can eating food be to God’s glory? When we remember the Source of our food and the capacity we have to enjoy it.
God loves to give us the everyday things we need. Sometimes we don’t want to "bother" God and so we tend to go to Him only for the extraordinary, urgent needs of life. Isaac Bashevis Singer once said, "I only pray when I am in trouble. But I am in trouble all the time, and so I pray all the time." We don’t realize the trouble we’re in!
Two women co-owned and operated a seaside inn. They were getting ready for the busy summer season and were faced with a dilemma-not enough help in the kitchen. They desperately needed a pastry chef and a dishwasher. One of the two women prayed asking God for help. She said, "Lord, I haven’t the least idea where to find help; this hotel is Your business as well as mine. Please lead me to a dishwasher and a pastry chef." She then went to her car. Her partner asked what was up, and she said, "I don’t know, but somehow God will show me." She headed downtown and spotted two men at a bus stop. On an impulse, she stopped at the curb. She explained, "I run a hotel on the beach and need some extra help. You men wouldn’t be needing jobs, would you?" Big grins appeared on the men’s faces. "Yes, ma’am, we do. We’ve been looking for work but haven’t found any. We were about to try elsewhere." "What can you do?", the woman asked. "Sam here, he’s a first-rate pastry cook, and I’m a dishwasher." "Climb in", the woman said. The two men stayed the entire season and proved to be the best help the inn had that year. For that little seaside inn, a pastry cook and a dishwasher were the "daily bread" needed (source: Catherine Marshall).
Back in Bible times bread was a whole-grain staple of life. It was baked fresh every day and was an essential part of life. Jesus was instructing His disciples to ask God for what they needed to live for the day. Jesus also taught that we do not live by bread alone, but by the words of life found in Scripture.
Bread is a symbol for everything necessary for life and well-being-to include food, good health, shelter, clothing, a means of income, peace, safety, friends and family. The book of Proverbs gives the right perspective: "Lord, give me neither poverty nor riches; give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny You and say, ’Who is the Lord?’ And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy Name." This prayer doesn’t imply that we’ll have all we want, but that we will have all that we need.
Some people are trying to make their own daily bread. They figure that if they make enough money they’ll be happy. We can spend our whole lives striving for material prosperity and miss what life is really all about. A high school friend of mine asked his parents if they could say grace at dinner and his father said, "I earn my money; I’m the one who puts food on this table, not God." This dad didn’t see the Source of his provision. Food on the table is not by our own efforts. In Deuteronomy we’re reminded, "It is God who gives you power to get wealth" (8:18). All the resources at our disposal are gifts from Above.
The Jewish Ark of the Covenant contained three items: the Ten Commandments-the actual stone tablets given to Moses, Aaron’s rod-a walking stick that miraculously budded, and a pot of manna-the bread God provided each morning during the long, wilderness wandering. It’s interesting that God made the condition that the people would gather the manna and consume it that day. If they tried to meet tomorrow’s needs on their own by putting some in storage, it would rot, except the day before the Sabbath rest. God was making it necessary for them to rely on Him day-by-day. Later God also provided quail. In Deuteronomy we’re told, "He did this to humble you…so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you prosperous" (8:17).
We’re praying for "our" daily bread. There’s no room for selfishness here. It’s been said that "bread for myself is a physical need; bread for others is a spiritual matter." There is enough for everyone’s need, but not enough for everyone’s greed. Jesus said that when we offer bread to others, we are in effect doing it to Him (Matthew 25:40).
A man in Dallas Texas heard about a family that needed food. He began to pray, asking God to provide for these needy people, then he paused and said, "Never mind, Lord-I’ll take care of this myself." We pass the bread to the rest of the table. This is an appropriate time to urge you to support our Food Pantry!
Along with generosity comes contentment. Some people are never satisfied with what they have. Paul states in Philippians, "I’ve learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing and with abundance. I’ve learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty; with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ Who gives me the strength I need" (4:11-13). Paul tells Timothy, "If we have food and clothing, let us be content with that" (I Tim 6:8).
Reliance upon God doesn’t mean laziness! Paul writes to slothful saints: "We hear that some among you are living idle lives, refusing to work…in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command them-settle down and get to work. Earn the bread you eat. And I say to the rest of you, never get tired of doing what is right" (II Thes 3:11-13). When sin entered the world, God told Adam, "From now on you will earn your bread by the sweat of your brow" (Gen 3:19).
One day when Jesus was praying, His disciples urged Him to stop and have something to eat. He replied, "I have bread to eat that you don’t know about." Physical nourishment is only part of what this petition of the Lord’s Prayer is about. People need hope along with lunch! God has established the church to serve what no one else can cook up-the Bread of Life. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life; those who eat this bread will live forever" (John 6:35). To those who are spiritually starved God invites to come and eat without cost. He says "Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55). God offers food for the soul. If we "hunger and thirst after righteousness, we will be filled" (Mt 5:6). The Communion bread we eat represents the spiritual nourishment that Jesus purchased on the cross. When we come to Jesus we never hunger again.
Why do some people not come to Jesus? They’re not hungry. They are too comfortable and self-satisfied. They don’t hunger for what He offers. They are starving spiritually without knowing it. There is a spiritual famine in our land. We come to God’s house to be nourished. Comfortable people don’t go to church. Uncomfortable, hungry people go to church to find strength for the day, and to thank God for the blessings they have. They greatly appreciate the blessings of life, small and large, because they know what it’s like to be uncomfortable. Thomas Merton wrote, "The secret of prayer is a hunger for God." If we are nourished by God, we do not remain the same people. When God fills us, we are changed.
This prayer is an invitation to consider: "What do I need from God right now?" We may doubt the power of our asking, but not God’s hearing. Jesus stands at the door and is knocking; He says to us, "I stand at the door and knock. If you hear Me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends" (Rev 3:20).
Bread of heaven, feed us till we want no more.
>Bulletin insert…
"Lord, I don’t think I have ever really worried about daily bread. You have given me an abundance of bread and everything else I need. When I go to the grocery store, I get lost in all the variety and color and sheer numbers. I have given away boxes, a roomful of things to Goodwill. They are things I do not need or no longer want, and still I have more than enough. You have allowed me to have things far in excess of daily bread-of what I truly need to live.
And yet I am still hungry.
Sometimes I fear the things I have. They steal my best time and energy by crying for my attention: ’Buy me! Eat me! Wear me! Upgrade me!’
And so I am hungry, because I am feeding my greed and not my soul.
How much is enough, Lord? How much is too much? What can I live without? I don’t want too little, for fear of becoming bitter and anxious. Nor do I need too much, lest I turn complacent and blind to the needs of others.
Give us this day our daily bread….I need bread to stay alive, but without the Bread of Life I will never truly live.
Teach me contentment, Jesus. Show me a way of true delight in the things of this earth, without mad cravings to own or control. Increase my hunger for You and for the things of Your Spirit.
May I never desire anything-a tasty meal, a beautiful dress, even a cozy home-unless You are in the desire, helping me to be grateful and generous.
O Jesus, give us Yourself!" (Cathy Haedge)
